Ethnic differences in male reproductive hormones and relationships with adiposity and insulin resistance in older men.

Objectives: To assess ethnic differences in male reproductive hormone levels and to determine whether any differences are explained by adiposity, insulin resistance (IR) or comorbidities in older men.

Design: Multi-ethnic cross-sectional observational study.

Participants: Community dwelling middle-aged and elderly men residing in the UK aged 40-84 years of South Asian (SA; n = 180), White European (WE; n = 328) or African Caribbean (AC; n = 166) origin.

Prediction of non-recovery from ventilator-demanding acute respiratory failure, ARDS and death using lung damage biomarkers: data from a 1200-patient critical care randomized trial.

Background: It is unclear whether biomarkers of alveolar damage (surfactant protein D, SPD) or conductive airway damage (club cell secretory protein 16, CC16) measured early after intensive care admittance are associated with one-month clinical respiratory prognosis. If patients who do not recover respiratory function within one month can be identified early, future experimental lung interventions can be aimed toward this high-risk group. We aimed to determine, in a heterogenous critically ill population, whether baseline profound alveolar damage or conductive airway damage has clinical respiratory impact one month after intensive care admittance.

The androgen receptor gene CAG repeat in relation to 4-year changes in androgen-sensitive endpoints in community-dwelling older European men.

Context: The androgen receptor (AR) gene exon 1 CAG repeat length has been proposed to be a determinant of between-individual variations in androgen action in target tissues, which might regulate phenotypic differences of human ageing. However, findings on its phenotypic effects are inconclusive.

Objective: To assess whether the AR CAG repeat length is associated with longitudinal changes in endpoints that are influenced by testosterone (T) levels in middle-aged and elderly European men.

Erythrocyte membrane fatty acid composition in hypercholesterolaemia.

The fatty acid composition of the erythrocyte membrane was determined in 22 hypercholesterolaemic patients managed by dietary restriction, and compared with that of 22 normocholesterolaemic controls, roughly matched for age and sex with the patient group. The patients exhibited higher relative proportions of palmitic (P < 0.01) and stearic (P < 0.